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Showing results for tags 'Sentient'.
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This question came up over in my Simplifying the Species List topic, and now I'm kind of wondering what everyone has to say on it. The living beings in the MU are divided up between Sapient Species and Rahi. The former category of course includes beings like Toa, Skakdi, and Vortixx, while the latter contains Muaka, Nui-Jaga, and Rock Raptors. It's a pretty easy distinction to make, even for someone who doesn't quite understand the meaning of "sapience." But then... we have the unusual cases. Airwatcher was known to capture rocks and trees and said to be extremely unintelligent. On the other hand, "Rahi" such as Krahka, Artahka Bulls, and Keetongu have exhibited all the traits of a sapient species, but still remain categorized as Rahi. As a quick refresher, Dictionary.com defines Sapience as "having or showing... sound judgement." Obviously, creatures such as a Muaka live by instinct and make few judgments in their everyday lives. There is no right nor wrong to them, and intelligence below humanity. But to beings like Krahka and Keetongu, there is a right and wrong; they can choose which friends to help and foes to fight. They can even communicate with other sapient species. So... is there an actual reason to this categorization? Is the definition of "Rahi" different from what we may call an animal? Are the terms "Rahi" and "Sapient Species" mutually exclusive? Or was this just an arbitrary decision that was not well thought out when put into canon?